1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates generally to the field of computer databases. More specifically, the present invention is related to access of personal information stored in computer databases.
2. Discussion of Prior Art
The use of computers to provide structured storage and communications of information in order to streamline information processing tasks is quite prevalent in today""s society. For instance, even small businesses maintain databases of inventory and accounting information, personnel records, etc. The advantage of computers and associated databases is that they provide a structured, easily accessible repository for this information. Once entered into the database, this information can easily be modified, processed, organized in different ways, protected against invasion, and aggregated in different manners to provide valuable reports. These capabilities are of great value in productivity, privacy, organization, and help to insure the correct information is used for the appropriate tasks.
While some businesses may locate their accounting and inventory information in a single repository, providing structure and ease of access, an individual""s personal information is not typically handled as productively. Information, such as address books and calendars, may be stored on a personal digital assistant, or on various computer desktop applications, and is inaccessible to other computer programs or other computers. Other information, such as frequent flyer miles, medical prescriptions, grocery store buying habits, shoe size, etc., are not stored on a computer anywhere, or are stored on systems which the individual does not have immediate access to. In accordance with the present invention, such information is stored in a single repository, or, alternatively, a central access point for such information is provided. The storage of such information in this manner provides a digital persona for the individual which can be accessed by other computers.
The right to access information such as inventory and accounting information is relatively easily determined. Either the user has a reason to access the information or not. Consequently, a simple system of access privilege mechanisms is used to determine who can access the information. When dealing with an individual""s personal information, many factors are considered by the individual to determine whether they would provide the information to the other party. Some information, such as their bank account, is much more private, and therefore would only be given out to trusted entities and only for a very good reason, such as to a merchant to complete a transaction. Other information is much less private and may be given out more freely. Therefore, there is a need for a more complex manner of determining whether access to the information should be allowed. According to the present invention, a complex manner is provided in which a repository or central access point, hereinafter referred to as information server, and the computer attempting access, hereinafter the requestor, negotiate the terms of use and accessibility of the personal information based upon preferences set by the user.
Recently, a protocol known as Platform for Privacy Preferences Project (P3P) has been proposed by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). The P3P protocol enables World Wide Web sites to inform a user of a web browser of a Web sites privacy practices and allow the user of the web browser to exercise preferences based upon those practices. The P3P protocol focuses on storing limited amounts of personal information in a single program, such as a web browser, along with preferences relating to the information. Thereafter, when a user of the web browser is visiting a Web site, the Web site presents a request, along with information regarding the privacy practices of the Web site, to the web browser. If the privacy practices are compatible with the users preferences, the web browser supplies the information to the Web site. If the privacy practices are not compatible, a negotiation may be pursued, and if agreeable terms can be obtained, then the information is released. If agreeable terms are not met, the information is not released. While this provides a single storage place for the information, storage of the information in a web browser limits the accessibility of the information. For instance, a computer at a bank cannot request information that is needed to complete a transaction, unless the user is using the web browser and visiting the actual Web site of the bank. Therefore, a process, such as a loan approval, which has different stages and may require different types of information which could not be obtained earlier, during each stage, cannot be completed without contacting the loan applicant (user of the web browser) physically. This is due to the fact the loan applicant may not even be aware the information is needed and therefore would not know to navigate the web browser to the appropriate Web site. Such a need to contact the loan applicant draws out a process which could have been easily and quickly carried out had the information been easily accessible. At other times, the user of the web browser may be remotely located from the web browser, but needs access to their personal information. The web browser cannot be addressed by another computer and accessed to provide the information and therefore, the information is inaccessible to a user remotely located from their web browser. In summary, the web browser is not freely addressable.
The following references describe the use of user profiles to perform certain tasks or the negotiation between intelligent agents, however, none of these references provide for a central repository of personal information of an entity which is easily accessible.
The U.S. Pat. No. 5,504,873 describes a communication system in which entities want to be involved by exchanging proposals and counter-proposals.
The U.S. Pat. No. 5,630,159 describes a system in which a user stores preferences relating to multiple application devices, such as cellular phones, computers, or automobiles, in a smart card or central database so that the users preferences can easily be set in a new model of the multiple application device.
The U.S. Pat. No. 5,717,923 describes a system for customizing electronic advertisements to an individual user, based upon a user profile. The information of the profile is used to provide targeted information while maintaining the privacy of the individual.
The U.S. Pat. No. 5,761,662 describes a system which retrieves and compiles information to be presented to a user based upon the user""s profile.
The U.S. Pat. No. 5,793,972 describes a system that directs an individual to a web page by the use of direct mail marketing. When the user accesses the page a unique page is generated based upon data stored corresponding to the individual.
The U.S. Pat. No. 5,845,070 describes the use of a certification server to facilitate a purchase initiated by a user over the Internet.
The International Application WO 97/29443 describes a negotiation between agents of a distributed processing environment to determine the services performed by each agent in order to accomplish an overall task.
The International Application WO 98/43146 describes a method of negotiation between intelligent agents which allows the agents to disguise their negotiation strategies from other negotiating parties, limits unproductive negotiations, and incorporates dynamic value determination.
The International Application WO 95/15635 describes a communications network in which management agents negotiate with customer agents to provide new services.
The Japanese Patent Publication JP 04-279935 describes a system for solving problems by negotiating between a plurality of agents having different knowledge bases.
The non-patent literature entitled, xe2x80x9cCooperative Information Agents and Communication,xe2x80x9d describes an architecture in which a communication manager negotiates contracts of communication and transaction protocols with other cooperative information agents.
The non-patent literature entitled, xe2x80x9cICOMA: an Open Infrastructure for Agent-based Intelligent Electronic Commerce on the Internet,xe2x80x9d describes an architecture and message protocol for inter-agent negotiation in an open infrastructure for agent based electronic commerce.
Whatever the precise merits, features and advantages of the above cited references, none of them achieve or fulfills the purposes of the present invention. These and other objects are achieved by the detailed description that follows.
The present invention provides a system which provides a structured and accessible information repository for an entity""s personal information. An information server comprises a freely accessible access interface, a personal information database, and a set of information preferences associated with the personal information database. The personal information database contains personal information about an entity, such as name, phone number, address, shoe size, medications, etc. The information preferences define an entities preferences regarding the conditions of use under which the personal information will be released. When a requestor, such as another computer, requests personal information from the information server, the requestor communicates with the information server by addressing the freely accessible interface. The requestor then identifies the information it is requesting and provides the conditions under which the information is to be used. The freely addressable access interface then compares the received conditions of use to the set of information preferences to determine if the received conditions of use are acceptable. If the received conditions of use are acceptable, the freely addressable access interface retrieves the information and provides it to the requestor. If the received conditions are unacceptable, the freely addressable access interface denies the requestors request.
In another embodiment of the present invention, the requestor and the freely addressable access interface negotiate on the conditions of use until an agreement is reached, or until it is determined that an agreement cannot be reached. When the freely addressable access interface initially determines that the received conditions of use are unacceptable, the freely addressable access interface proposes new conditions of use to the requestor which the requestor may accept, or in turn proposes other new conditions of use and so forth, until the agreement is reached or until it is determined the agreement cannot be reached.
In another embodiment of the present invention, once an agreement on the conditions of use has been reached, the freely addressable access interface records the conditions of use of the released information in order to maintain a xe2x80x9cpaper recordxe2x80x9d of the transaction. Additionally, the requestor maintains a record of the transaction. Therefore, if the terms of the agreement are violated, a xe2x80x9cpaper trailxe2x80x9d of the agreement exists.
In another embodiment of the present invention, the requestor additionally identifies a separate, third party certification authority, used by the freely addressable access interface to verify the identity of the requestor.
In another embodiment of the present invention, the personal information is converted into a human readable format, for the case that the requestor is a human user of a computer. The freely addressable access interface retrieves the personal information from the personal information database and supplies it to a human readable converter, which converts the information to human readable format. The freely addressable access interface then provides the information to the computer and the information is displayed to the user.
In another embodiment of the present invention, more than one personal information database and associated set of information preferences exists on the same information server.